President Biden’s chief medical adviser said he expects Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine to be re-used in the U.S. on Friday, following a break due to concerns about blood clots in several patients.
“I would be very surprised … if we don’t have a resumption somehow before Friday,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told CBS’s “Face the Nation,” echoing statements he made on other networks Sunday. .
U.S. health authorities on Tuesday recommended suspending the use of the single dose of J&J except with great caution while investigating reports of the six women who received the vaccine and then developed severe blood clots. The women were between 18 and 48 years old. One died.
More than 7.2 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered in the United States; approximately 1.5 million of these doses were for women between 18 and 50 years of age.
J&J said Friday that there was not enough evidence to establish that the company’s Covid-19 vaccine caused the rare blood clotting condition that prompted U.S. health officials this week to recommend a pause in its use.